Educational Science

'Expedition Bigfoot' Scours Oregon Woods for Signs of the Mythical and Elusive Beast

A man crouches on the Oregon forest floor late at night, peering between the trees for signs of nocturnal life. The scene is pitch-black but his face and hands are visible in infrared footage, and he scans the landscape with a thermal camera, looking for a heat signature that would...

'Mad' Flat-Earther's Steam Rocket Launch Grounded by Bad Water Heater Bought on Craigslist

Flat-Earth proponent, former limo driver and amateur rocketeer Mad Mike Hughes planned to launch 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) into the air above the community of Amboy in California's Mojave Desert Monday (Aug. 12). But his homemade, steam-powered rocket never got off the ground, thanks to a faulty water heater that...

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll take a closer look at the science of excavating, preserving and interpreting clues from humanity's past: archaeology. What caused the Mayan civilization to collapse, how did the ancient Egyptians build colossal pyramids, and what's the story behind a 2,000-year-old computer called the...

Live Science podcast "Life's Little Mysteries" 9: Mysterious Flat-Earthers

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll explore an idea that originated thousands of years ago, and despite plenty of scientific evidence to the contrary, it mysteriously persists today — the notion that the world is flat. What proof do we have that tells us the Earth is round?...

How Rabies Inspired Folktales of Werewolves and Vampires

In 1855, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the gruesome murder of a bride by her new husband. The story came from the French countryside, where the woman's parents had initially prevented the couple's engagement on account of the strangeness of conduct sometimes observed in the young man, although he...

What If the Earth Was Flat?

The Earth is a sphere. This is a simple fact that humans have known for thousands of years; it was incontrovertibly confirmed as soon as the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 and it went … you know ... around the globe. Nevertheless, a small but vocal...

JFK conspiracy theory is debunked in Mexico 57 years after Kennedy assassination

Most conspiracy theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination have been disproven. Kennedy was not killed by a gas-powered device triggered by aliens or by actor Woody Harrelson’s dad. But speculation about Kennedy’s Nov. 22, 1963 murder in Dallas continues, fueled by unreleased classified documents, bizarre ballistics and the claim...

Bill Nye to flat Earthers and science deniers: 'It affects all of us'

Bill Nye has had it with flat-earthers and other science deniers. While humanity is landing robots on Mars and breaking open the mysteries of the universe, there continues a social trend of science denialism. From opposition to handwashing in the 1800s to modern climate deniers, anti-maskers and flat-Earthers, or people...

Antique vampire-slaying kit up for auction. Bible, crucifix and pistol included.

An antique, brass-trimmed wooden box holds all the tools that you might require in order to slay a vampire, including a 19th-century bible, crucifixes and a pistol. This vampire-slaying kit is estimated to be worth about $2,500 to $3,700 (£2,000 to £3,000) according to Hansons Auctioneers in Derbyshire, England, which...

Someone Stole the Bones of an 18th-Century 'Witch.' Scottish Authorities Want Them Back.

An elderly Scottish woman who was accused of witchcraft in the 1700s did not rest in peace — her bones were removed from the grave during the 19th century for study by local scholars, and later vanished from the records. Her skull, once exhibited in Scotland's Museum of the University...